The National Park Service recently awarded close to $1 million in grants from the agency’s Land and Water Conservation Fund for easements and land acquisition at three endangered Civil War battlefields: Richmond Battlefield, Ky.; Franklin Battlefield, Tenn.; and Bentonville Battlefield, N.C.

• Madison County, Ky., received $29,500 to buy the Moody Tract of the Richmond, Battlefield. Confederate forces won the Battle of Richmond, Ky. fought on August 29 and 30, 1862.
• The city of Franklin, Tenn. received a grant of $492,000 to acquire land at the Franklin Battlefield.
• The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources received grants to acquire two segments of the Bentonville Battlefield: $306,000 for the Nell Howell Tract and $150,000 for the Joyce Britt-Halliwell Tract.

State and local governments received a total of $977,500 from the National Park Service. Priority was given to battlefields listed in the National Park Service’s Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields. Funds are awarded based on the significance of the land to be acquired and the availability of required non-federal matching funds.

Congress appropriated $9 million in fiscal year 2010 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to help non-federal entities acquire and preserve Civil War battlefields. State and local governments, or qualified non-profit historic preservation organizations acting through an agency of state or local government, can submit proposals, which are accepted year-round and reviewed monthly or quarterly, depending on the degree of priority of the battlefield in question.